1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to systems for transporting garments or other articles. In particular, the present invention pertains to a trolley device for transporting garments or other articles over a rail system, wherein the trolley device includes an article support member that pivots between orientations for article transportation and/or storage.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, garments are transported between desired locations in the garment trade (e.g., from warehouse to retailer, from retailer warehouse to sales floor, from truck or other transport vehicle to warehouse, etc.) for various purposes (e.g., in order to conduct business, for storage, etc.). The transportation of garments or other articles is typically accomplished by a slick rail system that extends between the desired locations. Transport devices suspend the garments and engage the rail system to transport the garments in a desired fashion between locations. The related art provides various types of devices for transporting and/or suspending garments from a rail or rod. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,473 (Weiss et al) discloses a trolley hanger assembly for carrying garment-laden hangers along a trolley rail. The assembly includes two spaced-apart arms with a bearing housing rotatably attached to each of the arms. The two bearing housings each have two sets of rollers for engaging the trolley rail. A carrying rod is hingedly attached to the arms for carrying the garments.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,833 (Usner) discloses a garment rope gang-sling hook device characterized by the hook having disposed thereon three small, low-friction, ball or roller bearing rollers having substantially flat rolling surfaces. The rollers are disposed in fixed position on the crook of the hook where the axis of rotation of the centrally disposed roller forms an angle between 30° and 89° with the axes of rotation of each flanking roller, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,996 (Whittaker) discloses a garment supporting apparatus for the efficient suspension of articles of clothing in a constricted space. The apparatus comprises a brace element with a pivotally engageable mounting hook on each end for attaching to a garment rod. The brace element includes a series of spaced apart holes for suspending a number of clothes hangers and a series of laterally projecting integral hooks, along at least one longitudinal edge, for suspending a further number of clothes hangers where one of the mounting hooks is released from the rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,345 (Hilstolsky et al) discloses a garment holder assembly that supports garments while being disposed in either of two different attitudes. The assembly includes an elongated rigid support structure with a plurality of spaced, interior dividers. A hook extends from one or more dividers to support the garment holder assembly in a horizontal attitude, where the hooks may be utilized to suspend the support structure in that attitude from a trolley engaging a rail system A link secured to one end of the support structure can be connected to a roller hook engaging the rail system for supporting the assembly in a vertical attitude.
The related art devices suffer from several disadvantages. In particular, the Weiss et al and Usner devices are generally limited to suspending garments in a single orientation. However, different respective orientations are optimal for garment transport and storage. For example, a horizontal orientation is preferable for garment transport and/or storage during extended time intervals to minimize garment damage, while a vertical orientation is preferable for temporary garment storage (e.g., within a truck or other facility) to efficiently utilize storage space. Since these devices may transport and/or store garments in a single orientation, the garments are typically transferred from the devices to a desired location or other device to attain an optimal orientation for a particular application, thereby increasing the tediousness and/or complexity of the task. Although the Whittaker and Hilstolsky et al devices may suspend garments in horizontal and vertical orientations, the Whittaker device is limited to garment storage applications, while both devices do not provide a mechanism to lock the device in a particular orientation. Thus, the devices may inadvertently transition between orientations at inopportune times and cause damage to garments and/or injury to operators. Further, the Hilstolsky et al device utilizes several independent components (e.g., roller hook, support structure and trolley) to transition between orientations and facilitate garment transport along the rail system and/or garment storage, thereby increasing complexity and costs. Moreover, the weight of the garments suspended by the Hilstolsky et al device may require substantial effort (e.g., a plurality of persons) to transition the device between orientations, thereby degrading efficiency and/or requiring additional personnel to complete the task.